The present invention relates to an image capturing device, and in particular, to an image capturing device, such as a digital still camera or digital video camera, provided with an image capturing means for photographing an optical image and converting the optical image into image information.
In recent years, a digital still camera which has become popular very rapidly, is provided with an image capturing device such as a CCD, and is adapted to photograph an optical image with the image capturing device, and convert an analog image signal obtained by photographing into a digital image data, before storing the digital image data in an information storage medium (memory card) such as a smart medium. It is possible for the user to obtain a photographic print having high image quality by sending an image data obtained by photographing to a lab in order for the photographic print to be prepared or a user can easily record an image represented by the image data on paper and the like using his/her own printer.
In the image capturing device such as a digital still camera or digital video camera, the image quality of a photographed image has been improving over the years due to increased resolution and the like. However, as the image quality of a photographed image increases, there is an increased possibility that image capturing device will be used wrongly by using an image data obtained by photographing to print counterfeit paper money or counterfeit securities.
To prevent such use of an image capturing device, each time a photographing is carried out, a determination is made as to whether or not the subject whose image is captured based on image data obtained from the captured image, includes a subject which corresponds to paper money or a security. If a determination is made that a subject corresponding to a paper money or a security certificate is included an alert is given.
However a complicated image processing is necessary to make an automatic determination as to whether or not a subject corresponding to a paper money or security is included in a photographed optical image. If the determination is made each time an image is captured by a digital still camera for example, there occurs a problem of great degradation of performance of the image capturing device, due to, for example, a great increase in the interval between a time a photographing is carried out to a time when the camera is ready for a subsequent photographing.
The problem of great degradation in performance of image capturing device is not limited to the problem of determining whether or not a subject corresponding to a paper money or security is contained in a photographed optical image.
That is, a method for image capturing devices such a digital still camera is being researched in which selected information is input by using the image capturing device to photograph a medium having displayed thereon a bar-code as the selected information, and by the image capturing device analyzing the bar code based on the image data obtained from the photographing, the information represented by the bar code is input into the image capturing apparatus. However, for a determination to be automatically made as to whether or not a photographed optical image contains a subject corresponding to the medium with the bar code recorded thereon, it is necessary to perform a complicated image processing like in the case of making a decision as to whether a subject includes paper money or a security or the like. As a result the performance of the image capturing device may greatly deteriorate.
The present invention is made with such points in view. It therefore is an object of the present invention to provide an image capturing device in which a determination as to whether a predetermined subject is photographed or not can be implemented without great deterioration of performance.
To achieve the object, a first aspect of the invention provides an image capturing device comprising: an image capturing portion which photographs an optical image and converts the optical image into image information; a determination portion for deciding whether or not an image represented by image information obtained by photographing by the image capturing portion includes a predetermined pattern; a processing portion for performing a predetermined process in a case where a determination that the image includes the predetermined pattern is made by the determination portion; and a prohibiting portion which prohibits the determination by the determination portion in any case other than a case where photographing of an optical image is performed in at least one of a particular photographing mode and a particular image capturing condition suitable for photographing a subject corresponding to the predetermined pattern.
The first aspect of the invention includes a determination portion for determining whether or not an image represented by image information obtained by a photographing by the image capturing portion includes a predetermined pattern (a pattern corresponding to a subject for which whether it is to photographed or not is determined). The predetermined pattern according to the invention may for example be a pattern corresponding to a pattern of paper money or a security or may be a pattern corresponding to a bar code. A pattern corresponding to any of various documents (public document or private document) whose forgery constitutes a crime may be used as the predetermined pattern.
The determination as to whether or not an image represented by image information obtained by photographing includes a predetermined pattern may, for example, be made by a pattern matching between the image information obtained by photographing and image information representing the predetermined pattern, or by a comparison between an image characteristic amount calculated by performing a predetermined calculation (image processing) for the image information obtained by photographing and an image characteristic amount obtained by performing a predetermined calculation (image processing) for the image information representing the predetermined pattern.
The first aspect of the invention includes a processing portion for performing a predetermined process in a case a determination that the image includes the predetermined pattern is made by the determination portion.
In a second aspect of the invention, in a case where the predetermined pattern is a pattern corresponding to a paper money or a security, the processing portion performs, as the predetermined process, a process for preventing use of image information obtained by a photographing.
Thereby, image information obtained by photographing a paper money or security by an image capturing device according to the invention can be prevented from being used for a wrong practices such as making counterfeit paper money or a security.
The process for preventing use of image information may be performed, more specifically, by issuing an alert for example. A third aspect of the invention, however, performs a deletion of the image information or a processing of the image information (such as by overwriting a predetermined image on part of or the entire area of a region corresponding to the predetermined pattern in an image, for example).
Thereby, image information obtained by photographing a paper money or a security by an image capturing device according to the invention can be prevented from being used for a wrong practice such as for making counterfeit paper money or securities.
In a case where the predetermined pattern is a pattern corresponding to a bar code, according to a fourth aspect of the invention, the processing portion performs, as the predetermined process, recognition of information represented by the bar code and storing of the information in a memory.
Thereby, in a state in which information to be input to an image capturing device according to the invention is shown on a medium (paper or other recording medium, or medium such as a display), if the medium is photographed, image information obtained by the photographing can be based on the information to be recognized by the image capturing device and stored in the memory, thus allowing desirable information to be input to the image capturing device with ease.
For image information obtained by photographing a paper money or security to be used to make counterfeit paper money or security, it is necessary to photograph the paper money or security precisely or to perform photographing under a particular image photographing conditions that can precisely photograph the paper money or security.
Also in a case where information is input to the image capturing device by photographing a medium with a bar code displayed thereon for example, in order to allow information represented by the bar code to be accurately recognized, photographing must be performed under a particular image capturing condition such that the bar code can be precisely photographed (this image capturing condition is not always identical to an image capturing condition suitable for photographing the paper money or security).
The image capturing device may have a variety photographing modes for adequately photographing a variety of subjects.
The variety of photographing modes are different from each other in terms of whether or not a variety of processes (such as a hand shake correction process or a warp correction process for example) are executed during photographing or after photographing. During photographing, a photographing mode is selected in accordance with the type of a main subject or the like, and various processes are each performed in accordance with the selected photographing mode.
Therefore, in a case where a suitable photographing mode is selected from among various photographing modes as described above, when a subject corresponding to a predetermined pattern is photographed as a main subject, it is likely that a particular photographing mode suitable for the subject corresponding to the predetermined pattern will be selected.
For the object described, in the first aspect of the invention, a prohibiting portion prohibits the determination by the determination portion, in cases other than a case where photographing of an optical image is performed with at least one of a particular photographing mode and a particular image capturing condition suitable for photographing of a subject corresponding to the predetermined pattern.
Thereby, the determination portion makes a determination only in the case when an optical image containing a subject corresponding to the predetermined pattern (more specifically, an optical image having as a main subject a subject corresponding to the predetermined pattern) might have been photographed. As a result, a great degradation of performance of the image capturing device can be prevented when compared with a case where a determination is made by a determination portion at every photographing.
Therefore, according to the first aspect of the invention, a determination as to whether or not a predetermined subject is photographed can be implemented without a great degradation of performance.
In a fifth aspect of the invention, an image capturing device according to the first aspect further comprises a selecting portion for selecting whether to perform or not a determination on a pattern corresponding to a bar code as the predetermined pattern, and the prohibiting portion unconditionally (also in a case of a particular photographic pattern or particular photographing mode suitable for photographing a subject corresponding to a pattern corresponding to the bar code) prohibits a determination by the determination portion as to whether or not an image represented by the image information includes a pattern corresponding to the bar code in a case where the selecting portion has selected that the determination on a pattern corresponding to the bar code is not to be performed.
According to the fifth aspect, when it is selected by the selecting portion that a determination on a pattern corresponding to the bar code is not to be made, there a determination as to whether or not a pattern corresponding in image to the bar code is not made, and when a subject containing the bar code is photographed without aiming to have recognized information represented by the bar code, great degradation of performance of the image capturing device can be prevented.
In a sixth aspect of the invention, as the particular image capturing condition, there is employed an image capturing condition in which optical images spaced at a smaller distance than a predetermined value are photographed by dividing the image into a greater number of pixels than predetermined.
The above image capturing condition is an image capturing condition that can precisely photograph a main subject: Thus, in photographing of a paper money or security with a purpose for making counterfeit money securities, or in photographing of (a medium with) a bar code (indicated thereon) with a purpose of inputting information, it is likely that a photographing is made with above-noted image capturing condition to obtain image information that precisely represents the main subject (paper money or security, bar code, etc.).
Therefore, by using an image capturing condition like above as a particular image capturing condition, just in a case where it is possible that an optical image containing a subject corresponding to the predetermined pattern might have been photographed, there can be made a determination as to whether or not an image includes the predetermined pattern.
In paper money, security, or such, the portion having relatively low concentration has a relatively great area, and the low-concentration portion contains some visible information recorded (for example, it is colored or has a certain pattern recorded, etc.).
Therefore, in photographing of an optical image including a paper money, security, etc. as a main subject, a strobo may be flashed and the visible information in the low-concentration portion is likely to be lost from the image information due to a saturation of light quantity. In consideration of this point, in a case a pattern corresponding to a paper money or security is the predetermined pattern, the sixth aspect of the invention may have, as a particular image capturing condition according to the invention, an additional condition that the strobo is not to flash.
On the other hand, the code bar is a binary-value image constituted with combinations of a bar (black portion) and a space (white portion), and it is referable for an improved recognizability to increase a contrast of an image represented by image information by flashing a strobo when photographing. Therefore, in a case a pattern corresponding to a paper money or security is the predetermined pattern, the sixth aspect of the invention may have, as a particular image capturing condition according to the invention, an additional condition that the strobo is to flash.
A seventh aspect of the invention employs, for example, a document copy mode for performing, when photographing an optical image including a sheet material, a process for obtaining image information accurately representing visible information (for example, character, figure, color pattern, etc.) recorded on the sheet material.
In a case where the image capturing device according to the invention is provided the above document copy mode, it is highly probable that the document copy mode is selected when photographing a paper money or security with a purpose of making counterfeit copies or in a photographing of (a medium with) a bar code (indicated thereon) with a purpose of inputting information. Therefore, by using a document copy mode like above as a particular photographing mode, just in a case where it is possible to make a determination that an optical image containing a subject corresponding to a predetermined pattern might have been photographed, there can be made a determination as to whether or not an image includes the predetermined pattern, in an ensured manner.
As the document copy mode, more specifically, there can be employed for example a process for performing, for image information obtained by photographing or when photographing, a hand shake correction process or warp correction process, or a process for distributing a main subject to be photographed (document as to be copied) over an entire area of an image (for example, a process for selecting a photographic frame when photographing, or a process for cutting out a region corresponding to a main subject of a photographic target from image information obtained by photographing).